International Journal of General Medicine (Aug 2022)
Expression, Clinical Significance, Immune Infiltration, and Regulation Network of miR-3940-5p in Lung Adenocarcinoma Based on Bioinformatic Analysis and Experimental Validation
Abstract
Zhichao Lin,* Wenhai Huang,* Zehua Xie,* Yongsheng Yi, Zumei Li Department of Thoracic Surgery, Jiangmen Central Hospital, Affiliated Jiangmen Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Jiangmen, 529030, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Zhichao Lin, Department of Thoracic Surgery, Jiangmen Central Hospital, Affiliated Jiangmen Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, No. 23 Haibang Street, Beijie, Jiangmen, 529030, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86 750-3989432, Email [email protected]: Based on bioinformatics analysis and experimental validation, we investigated the expression, clinical significance, immune infiltration, and potential signaling pathways of miR-3940-5p in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD).Methods: 521 LUAD tissue samples and 46 normal lung tissue samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. We evaluated the relationship between clinical features and miR-3940-5p expression using Kruskal–Wallis, Wilcoxon sign-rank, and logistic regression, explored the relationship between miR-3940-5p expression and the prognosis of LUAD patients using Kaplan–Meier survival curve analysis. Several databases were used to identify miRNA targets. MiR-3940-5p target genes were analyzed based on Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses. The significant role of miR-3940-5p in function was evaluated using immune infiltration analysis. LUAD cell lines were tested for miR-3940-5p expression using QRT-PCR.Results: There was a significant association between high miR-3940-5p expression in LUAD and T stage (P=0.005), pathologic stage (P=0.047), race (White vs Asian & Black or African American) (P=0.041), residual tumor (P=0.043), and anatomic neoplasm subdivision2 (P=0.030). MiR-3940-5p expression predicted poor overall survival (HR: 1.35; 95% CI: 1.01– 1.81; P=0.045), disease-specific survival (HR: 1.53; 95% CI: 1.05– 2.23; P=0.026), and progression-free survival (HR: 1.35; 95% CI: 1.03– 1.77; P=0.032). BAP1, BBS1, CCR2, KCNE3, PEBP1, and RABL2A were all associated with poor OS in LUAD patients with low miR-3940-5p expression levels. According to GO and KEGG analyses, miR-3940-5p may play a role in LUAD development by regulating pathways such as measles, PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, and p53 signaling pathway. There was a correlation between the expression level of miR-3940-5p and immune infiltration. LUAD cell lines showed significantly higher levels of miR-3940-5p than Beas-2B cells.Conclusion: A high expression of miR-3940-5p is significantly associated with a poor prognosis in patients with LUAD, suggesting that it could be used as a prognostic biomarker.Keywords: microRNA-3940-5p, lung adenocarcinoma, clinical significance, immune infiltration, regulation network
